Seal Me With A Kiss
by BethSHeartbeat
Summary: A Zax fic based on the spoilers for the ep on the 28th February


"I kind of like it being a secret, don't you?" Zoe asked as they hid in Max's office while they had a shared break, they'd been back together for little over a month, a month in blissful happiness. Silence followed her question, causing her to turn slightly for where she was positioned with her back against Max's chest. "Max?" She asked quietly as Max didn't look so sure about what she'd said.

"Why can't we tell people Zo? I love you." Max spoke, not thinking particularly about what was coming out of his mouth nor the fact that he hadn't told Zoe that he'd loved her since she'd left Holby.

"People ruin things, that's why." She replied, deliberately ignoring the second half of what he'd said. An air of awkwardness descended upon the small office, leaving Zoe feeling tense and panicked somehow she needed to get out, the room was beginning to feel to small and the air suddenly seemed to be getting too thin. Deep down she knew she was wrong, she knew that other people could only ruin something if she let them but part of her was fearful over how people would react to her relationship with a porter. Her pager provided a quick escape as it suddenly beeped, alerting her to the fact that someone was demanding her presence elsewhere in the hospital. "I have to go Max, I'll see you later though." Zoe spoke, quickly rising to her feet and planting a kiss on his lips before leaving.

"See you later." Max replied, before sighing as the door closed. With Zoe the relationship frequently felt like a dance of one step forward and then two steps backwards, she was scared. Scared of commitment, scared of getting hurt, and scared of opening herself up to someone else. Zoe had friends but even with them she became closed off occasionally, usually something that was less of a problem with the more wine she'd consumed.

She had a day in cubicles, darting between children with various broken bones, a teenager with abdominal pains and an elderly woman with chest pains, leaving her plenty of time to think. It wasn't long before she found she had little to do as they had no beds left and were either waiting for X-ray or wards to be ready for patients or the labs to process bloods or other tests that had been done. After having retreated to her office whilst she waited, she picked up her phone and scrolled through her various contacts in search of Max's name. With his surname being Walker, his name was relatively near the bottom. Clicking on send message, she immediately started typing in what she wanted to say to him before reading it all and deleting it before settling on telling him to meet her in reception. The response came within a matter of seconds, leaving Zoe wondering just how much work her boyfriend actually did never the less she picked up her coat and bag and locked her bag up with the aim of heading to reception and then leaving for the night.

It was hardly surprising when she found Max stood at the reception desk, his maroon shirt now replaced with a grey t-shirt with the name of a band that she didn't recognise across the chest. He stood talking to Noel and Louise, his back towards Zoe meaning he hadn't seen her yet.

"Max?" Zoe called, yet again debating whether or not this was her best idea and yet as he turned and threw a cheeky grin at her, suddenly all the cons of what she was about to do had vanished from her mind. She took the few steps that it took to bring her toe to toe with him, smiling slightly as she stood reached up slightly bringing an arm behind his head to push his head down towards hers so that they could kiss. The fact that they were in Holby ED's reception in front of many of their colleagues had little influence over them and got little thought as Max's hands came to rest on her back, whilst Zoe's wrapped around his neck.

"I love you too Max." She spoke, hoping that she'd showed him that she loved him as well as having told him. Max looked slightly shocked at his partner's chosen actions, yet Zoe didn't seem to even bat an eyelid as her colleagues phones all appeared to be pointing at them.

"You never fail to shock me Dr Zoe Hanna." He told her, reaching down and intertwining his fingers with hers as they walked out of the ED leaving their colleagues and friends in total shock.

"Good."


End file.
